Beauty and the Beast, or the Stockholm Syndrome in fairy tales.

2010
13.5” tall Sold

The Stockholm syndrome is a human defense mechanism in life-threatening situations. Medical dictionaries define Stockholm syndrome as “an extraordinary phenomenon in which a hostage begins to identify with and grow sympathetic to their captor, essentially mistaking a lack of abuse as an act of kindness.”

In my opinion, the fairy tale of Beauty and the Beast is a romanticized hostage situation, where the Beast is a narcissistic sociopath, while the Beauty is his vulnerable hostage who is losing touch with reality and “falling in love” with her captor to survive a deeply traumatizing ordeal.

Moreover, the very act of romanticizing a fundamentally disturbing account of a woman’s abduction, subjugation and unlawful imprisonment into a pretty fairy tale to teach girls compassion and kindness towards monsters, seems to be a manifestation of a Stockhom syndrome in itself, perhaps to facilitate survivial in a world of systematic abuse and violence against women.